Systems and methods for performing driver and vehicle analysis and alerting

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are disclosed for collecting vehicle data from a vehicle engine computer of a vehicle and a plurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle and generating feedbacks for a driver of the vehicle using at least the vehicle data. The systems and methods additionally provide for receiving user inputs from the driver responding to the feedbacks so that the user inputs are associated with corresponding rule violations that triggered the feedbacks.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

Any and all applications, if any, for which a foreign or domesticpriority claim is identified in the Application Data Sheet of thepresent application are hereby incorporated by reference under 37 CFR1.57.

BACKGROUND

A vehicle management system and in-vehicles devices can be used toassist in planning and servicing routes of a fleet of vehicles.

SUMMARY

In some embodiments, a system is disclosed for collecting vehicle datafrom a vehicle engine computer installed in an engine of a vehicle or aplurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle, generating feedbacksfor a driver of the vehicle using at least the vehicle data, andcommunicating inputs from the driver responding to the feedbacks toenable the driver to address the feedbacks. The system can include: anelectronic device comprising digital logic circuitry and configured tobe installed in a vehicle, the electronic device comprising a portconfigured to couple with a vehicle engine computer installed in anengine of the vehicle and have wired or wireless connections with aplurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle; and a first memorydevice in communication with the electronic device, the first memorydevice storing: a plurality of rules prescribing rule violationsassociated with activities of the vehicle, and a plurality of driverfeedbacks prescribing feedbacks to a driver of the vehicle about therule violations. The electronic device can be configured to: while thedriver is operating the vehicle, determine in real time a first ruleviolation of the rule violations by the vehicle based at least on acomparison of the plurality of rules to vehicle data received from thevehicle engine computer or the plurality of sensors; in response todetermining the first rule violation, determine in real-time a firstfeedback of the feedbacks to the driver from the plurality of driverfeedbacks based at least on the first rule violation; in response todetermining the first feedback, output in real time the first feedbackfor presentation to the driver; receive, via a selectable interfaceelement or an acoustic sensor, a first user input from the driverresponding to the first feedback, the first user input comprising anexplanation by the driver for the first rule violation or a request fromthe driver to discuss the first rule violation at a later time; store,in a second memory device, the first user input in association with anindication of the first rule violation; and transmit the first userinput and the indication of the first rule violation to a vehiclemanagement system so that the first user input and the indication of thefirst rule violation are presented to a manager of the vehicle.

The system of the preceding paragraph can include one or more of thefollowing features: The electronic device can be configured to receivethe first user input via the acoustic sensor, and the acoustic sensorcan be configured to initiate capture of the first user input inresponse to the driver providing an audio input that matches a captureinitiation input. The electronic device can be configured to: output thefirst feedback as an alert on a display device, the display devicecomprising the selectable interface element; output a plurality oftextual explanations for the first rule violation on the display device;and receive the first user input via a selection on the display deviceby the driver of one of the plurality of textual explanations for thefirst rule violation. Subsequent to receiving the first user input, theelectronic device can be configured to: while the driver is operatingthe vehicle, determine in real time a second rule violation of the ruleviolations by the vehicle based at least on (i) the comparison of theplurality of rules to the vehicle data and (ii) the first user input; inresponse to determining the second rule violation, determine in realtime a second feedback of the feedbacks to the driver from the pluralityof driver feedbacks based at least on the second rule violation; and inresponse to determining the second feedback, output in real time thesecond feedback for presentation to the driver. The electronic devicecan be configured to: receive, from the vehicle management system, userinput data associated with user inputs from a plurality of drivers of avehicle fleet that includes the vehicle, the user inputs being from theplurality of drivers responding to feedbacks associated with the ruleviolations by vehicles of the vehicle fleet driven by the plurality ofdrivers; and change the plurality of rules or the plurality of driverfeedbacks stored in the first memory device based at least on the userinput data. The electronic device can be configured to: transmit thefirst user input and the indication of the first rule violation to thevehicle management system so that the first user input and theindication of the first rule violation are presented together to themanager; while a driver is operating the vehicle, determine in real timea second rule violation of the rule violations by the vehicle based atleast on the comparison of the plurality of rules to the vehicle data;in response to determining the second rule violation, determine in realtime a second feedback of the feedbacks to the driver from the pluralityof driver feedbacks based at least on the second rule violation; inresponse to determining the second feedback, output in real time thesecond feedback for presentation to the driver; and in response to notreceiving a second user input from the driver responding to the secondfeedback, transmit an indication of the second rule violation to thevehicle management system so that the indication of the second ruleviolation is presented to the manager differently than the indication ofthe first rule violation. The first rule violation can comprise a hardbraking by the vehicle during which the vehicle experiences more than athreshold deceleration. The electronic device can be configured to nolonger accept the first user input when the first user input is notreceived from the driver within a threshold period of time subsequent tothe electronic device outputting the first feedback. The electronicdevice can be configured to remove the indication of the first ruleviolation from a driver profile associated with the driver based atleast on the first user input. The driver can be causing the vehicle tomove when the driver is operating the vehicle. The first user input cancomprise the explanation by the driver for the first rule violation. Thefirst user input can comprise the request from the driver to be promptedat the later time to discuss the first rule violation, and theelectronic device can be configured to prompt the driver at the latertime to discuss the first rule violation in response to receiving thefirst user input.

In some embodiments, a method is disclosed for collecting vehicle datafrom a vehicle engine computer installed in an engine of a vehicle or aplurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle, generating feedbacksfor a driver of the vehicle using at least the vehicle data, andprocessing inputs from the driver responding to the feedbacks to enablethe driver to address the feedbacks. The method can include: undercontrol of an electronic device comprising digital logic circuitry andinstalled in a vehicle, the electronic device comprising a port coupledwith a vehicle engine computer installed in an engine of the vehicle andhaving wired or wireless connections with a plurality of sensorsdisposed about the vehicle: while a driver is operating the vehicle,determining in real time a first rule violation of rule violations bythe vehicle based at least on a comparison of a plurality of rules tovehicle data received from the vehicle engine computer or the pluralityof sensors, the plurality of rules prescribing the rule violationsassociated with activities of the vehicle and retrieved from a firstmemory device in communication with the electronic device; in responseto determining the first rule violation, determining in real-time afirst feedback of feedbacks to the driver from a plurality of driverfeedbacks based at least on the first rule violation, the plurality ofdriver feedbacks prescribing the feedbacks to the driver about the ruleviolations and retrieved from the first memory device; in response todetermining the first feedback, outputting in real time the firstfeedback for presentation to the driver; receiving, via a selectableinterface element or an acoustic sensor, a first user input from thedriver responding to the first feedback, the first user input comprisingan explanation by the driver for the first rule violation or a requestfrom the driver to discuss the first rule violation at a later time;storing, in a second memory device, the first user input in associationwith an indication of the first rule violation; and in response to arequest from the driver, accessing the first user input and theindication of the first rule violation from the second memory device andoutputting information associated with the first user input and theindication of the first rule violation for presentation to the driver ona display device.

The method of the preceding paragraph can include one or more of thefollowing features: The method can further include: under control of theelectronic device: capturing in real-time image data with an imagesensor in response to determining the first rule violation; and storing,in a third memory device, the image data and an association with thefirst user input and the indication of the first rule violation. Themethod can further include: under control of the electronic device:while the driver is operating the vehicle, determining in real timeanother occurrence of the first rule violation by the vehicle based atleast on the comparison of plurality of rules to the vehicle data; inresponse to determining the another occurrence of the first ruleviolation, determining in real time a second feedback of the feedbacksto the driver from the plurality of driver feedbacks based at least onthe another occurrence of the first rule violation and the first userinput, the second feedback being different from the first feedback; andin response to determining the second feedback, outputting in real timethe second feedback for presentation to the driver. The method canfurther include: under control of the electronic device: updating adriver score associated with the driver based at least on the first ruleviolation and the first user input to generate an updated driver score,the driver score comprising a value indicative of a driving performanceby the driver and depending on a plurality of metrics related to thedriving performance; and outputting the updated driver score forpresentation to the driver on the display device. The method can furtherinclude: under control of the electronic device: requesting the firstuser input from the driver in response to an inquiry message receivedfrom a vehicle management system via a wireless communication network.

In some embodiments, non-transitory physical computer storage comprisinginstructions stored thereon for implementing, in one or more processors,a method comprising: while a driver is operating a vehicle, determiningin real time a first rule violation of rule violations by the vehiclebased at least on a comparison of a plurality of rules to vehicle datareceived from an vehicle engine computer of the vehicle or a pluralityof sensors disposed about the vehicle, the plurality of rulesprescribing the rule violations associated with activities of thevehicle and retrieved from a first memory device; in response todetermining the first rule violation, determining in real time a firstfeedback of feedbacks to the driver from a plurality of driver feedbacksbased at least on the first rule violation, the plurality of driverfeedbacks prescribing the feedbacks to the driver about the ruleviolations and retrieved from the first memory device; in response todetermining the first feedback, outputting in real time the firstfeedback for presentation to the driver; receiving, via a selectableinterface element or an acoustic sensor, a first user input from thedriver responding to the first feedback, the first user input comprisingan explanation by the driver for the first rule violation or a requestfrom the driver to discuss the first rule violation at a later time; andstoring, in a second memory device, the first user input in associationwith an indication of the first rule violation.

The non-transitory physical computer storage of the preceding paragraphcan include one or more of the following features: The first ruleviolation can comprise an acceleration or deceleration event by thevehicle during which the vehicle experiences more than a thresholdacceleration or deceleration. The method can further comprise receivingthe first user input via the selectable interface element.

In some embodiments, a system is disclosed for collecting vehicle datafrom a vehicle engine computer installed in an engine of a vehicle or aplurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle, evaluating a drivingperformance of the vehicle using at least the vehicle data, and limitingdriver access to information indicative of the driving performance tocertain times. The system can include: an electronic device comprisingdigital logic circuitry and configured to be installed in a vehicle of avehicle fleet, the electronic device comprising a port configured tocouple with a vehicle engine computer installed in an engine of thevehicle and have wired or wireless connections with a plurality ofsensors disposed about the vehicle; and a first memory device incommunication with the electronic device. The first memory device canstore: a plurality of program instructions prescribing conditions of avehicle to be monitored for a status tracking program, and a pluralityof access instructions prescribing when a driver of the vehicle ispermitted to access information determined for the status trackingprogram. The electronic device can be configured to: in accordance withthe plurality of program instructions retrieved from the first memorydevice, calculate a driver score for the driver based at least on acomparison of (i) vehicle data received from the vehicle engine computeror the plurality of sensors to (ii) the conditions of the vehicle to bemonitored for the status tracking program, the driver score beingindicative of a driving performance by the vehicle when driven by thedriver; receive, from a vehicle management system, a plurality of driverscores for a plurality of drivers of other vehicles in the vehiclefleet, the plurality of driver scores being indicative of drivingperformances by the other vehicles when driven by the plurality ofdrivers and calculated in accordance with the plurality of programinstructions; determine whether the driver is permitted to access thedriver score and the plurality of driver scores in accordance with theplurality of access instructions retrieved from the first memory device;and in response to determining that the driver is permitted to accessthe driver score and the plurality of driver scores, output the driverscore and the plurality of driver scores for presentation together on adisplay to the driver.

The system of the preceding paragraph can include one or more of thefollowing features: The plurality of access instructions can indicatethat the driver is permitted to access the driver score and theplurality of driver scores during a first time period and is notpermitted to access the driver score and the plurality of driver scoresduring a second time period different from the first time period. Thefirst time period can comprise a time period when the vehicle is notmoving, and the second time period can comprise a time period when thevehicle is moving. The first time period can comprise working hours forthe driver, and the second time period can comprise non-working hoursfor the driver. A length of the first time period can depend at least ona driving history associated with the driver. The driving history cancomprise a value indicative of a level of experience of the driver. Thedriving history can comprise an accident record associated with thedriver. The electronic device can be configured to adjust the pluralityof access instructions stored in the first memory device in accordancewith a command message received from the vehicle management system via awireless communication network, so that the plurality of accessinstructions indicate that the driver is permitted to access the driverscore and the plurality of driver scores at a time when the driver waspreviously unpermitted to access the driver score and the plurality ofdriver scores prior to adjustment of the access instructions. Theelectronic device can be configured to: determine whether the driver isdriving the vehicle for a work task in accordance with a workinstruction for the driver received from the vehicle management system;in response to determining that the driver is driving the vehicle forthe work task, calculate the driver score based at least on the vehicledata from performance of the work task; and in response to determiningthat the driver is driving the vehicle for a non-work task, notcalculate the driver score based at least on the vehicle data fromperformance of the non-work task. The driver score and the plurality ofdriver scores can be indicative of fuel efficiencies of the vehicle andthe other vehicles when driven by the driver and the plurality ofdrivers.

In some embodiments, a method is disclosed for collecting vehicle datafrom a vehicle engine computer installed in an engine of a vehicle or aplurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle, evaluating a drivingperformance of the vehicle using at least the vehicle data, and limitingdriver access to information indicative of the driving performance tocertain times. The method can include: under control of an electronicdevice comprising digital logic circuitry and installed in a vehicle ofa vehicle fleet, the electronic device comprising a port coupled with avehicle engine computer installed in an engine of the vehicle and havingwired or wireless connections with a plurality of sensors disposed aboutthe vehicle: in accordance with a plurality of program instructionsretrieved from a first memory device, calculating a driver score for adriver of the vehicle based at least on a comparison of (i) vehicle datareceived from the vehicle engine computer or the plurality of sensors to(ii) conditions of the vehicle to be monitored for a status trackingprogram, the plurality of program instructions prescribing theconditions of the vehicle to be monitored for the status trackingprogram, the driver score being indicative of a driving performance bythe vehicle when driven by the driver; receiving, from a vehiclemanagement system, a plurality of driver scores for a plurality ofdrivers of other vehicles in the vehicle fleet, the plurality of driverscores being indicative of driving performances by the other vehicleswhen driven by the plurality of drivers and calculated in accordancewith the plurality of program instructions; determining whether thedriver is permitted to access the driver score and the plurality ofdriver scores in accordance with a plurality of access instructionsretrieved from the first memory device, the plurality of accessinstructions prescribing when the driver is permitted to accessinformation determined for the status tracking program; and in responseto determining that the driver is not permitted to access the driverscore and the plurality of driver scores, denying a request from thedriver to output the driver score and the plurality of driver scores forpresentation to the driver.

The method of the preceding paragraph can include one or more of thefollowing features: The method can further include: under control of theelectronic device: in response to determining that the driver ispermitted to access the driver score and the plurality of driver scores,outputting the driver score and the plurality of driver scores forpresentation together to the driver. The method can further include:under control of the electronic device: transmitting an initiationmessage to the vehicle management system, the initiation messagerequesting that the driver and the vehicle participate in the statustracking program; and receiving an acknowledgement message from thevehicle management system, the acknowledgement message indicating thatthe driver and the vehicle are approved to participate in the statustracking program. The method can further include: under control of theelectronic device: receiving the plurality of program instructions fromthe vehicle management system in response to transmitting the initiationmessage. The driver score and the plurality of driver scores can beindicative of proportions of on-time deliveries by the vehicle and theother vehicles when driven by the driver and the plurality of drivers.

In some embodiments, non-transitory physical computer storage comprisinginstructions stored thereon for implementing, in one or more processors,a method comprising: in accordance with a plurality of programinstructions retrieved from a first memory device, calculating a driverscore for a driver of a vehicle in a vehicle fleet based at least on acomparison of (i) vehicle data received from an vehicle engine computerof the vehicle or a plurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle to(ii) conditions of the vehicle to be monitored for a status trackingprogram, the plurality of program instructions prescribing theconditions of the vehicle to be monitored for the status trackingprogram, the driver score being indicative of a driving performance bythe vehicle when driven by the driver; receiving, from a vehiclemanagement system, a plurality of driver scores for a plurality ofdrivers of other vehicles in the vehicle fleet, the plurality of driverscores being indicative of driving performances by the other vehicleswhen driven by the plurality of drivers and calculated in accordancewith the plurality of program instructions; in response to a requestfrom the driver to view the driver score or the plurality of driverscores, determining whether the driver is permitted to access the driverscore or the plurality of driver scores in accordance with a pluralityof access instructions retrieved from the first memory device, theplurality of access instructions prescribing when the driver ispermitted to access information determined for the status trackingprogram; in response to determining that the driver is permitted toaccess the driver score or the plurality of driver scores, outputtingthe driver score or the plurality of driver scores for presentation on adisplay to the driver in accordance with the request; and in response todetermining that the driver is not permitted to access the driver scoreor the plurality of driver scores, outputting an alert for presentationto the driver on the display, the alert indicating that the driver isnot currently permitted to access the driver score or the plurality ofdriver scores.

The non-transitory physical computer storage of the preceding paragraphcan include one or more of the following features: The alert can furtherindicate a reason that the driver is not currently permitted to accessthe driver score or the plurality of driver scores, the reasoncorresponding to an access limitation prescribed by the plurality ofaccess instructions. The plurality of access instructions can indicatethat the driver is permitted to access the driver score or the pluralityof driver scores during a first time period and is not permitted toaccess the driver score or the plurality of driver scores during asecond time period different from the first time period. The method canfurther include: determining whether the driver is driving the vehiclefor a non-work task in accordance with a work instruction for thedriver; and in response to determining that the driver is driving thevehicle for the non-work task, not calculating the driver score based atleast on the vehicle data from performance of the non-work task. Thedriver score and the plurality of driver scores can be indicative ofcounts of rule violations by the vehicle and the other vehicles whendriven by the driver and the plurality of drivers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features of various embodiments disclosed herein are described belowwith reference to the drawings. Throughout the drawings, referencenumbers are re-used to indicate correspondence between referencedelements. The drawings are provided to illustrate embodiments describedherein and not to limit the scope thereof.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example computing environment including a vehiclemanagement system and in-vehicle devices.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example in-vehicle device.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example real-time feedback and user input process.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example real-time user input usage process.

FIGS. 5 and 6A-6D illustrate example user interfaces for outputtingreal-time feedback and receiving user input.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example local real-time feedback process.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example telematics application access permissioncontrol process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION I. Introduction

Driver performance can be important to the successful operation of afleet of vehicles. Drivers are expected to follow the rules of the road,as well as the safety considerations while operating the vehicles of thefleet. Moreover, vehicle and fleet management systems generally striveto maintain fleet vehicles in good operating condition. Vehicles undergoscheduled maintenance and other vehicles services in order to keep thevehicles in good operating condition, such as oil changes, brake padreplacement, timing belt replacements, and other services. Theseservices can prevent or reduce the possibility of breakdowns orcatastrophic failure to the vehicles. Breakdown or failure of vehiclesduring operation can result in unnecessary downtime and costs for thevehicles, delayed orders, accidents, and other problems.

Advantageously, in certain embodiments, this disclosure describesembodiments of real-time driver and vehicle analysis and alertingfeatures that can be used to improve operation of a fleet of vehicles.The features can be used to identify potential problems with a driver orvehicle and provide a recommended treatment or service in real-time. Incertain embodiments, user input may be received that is associated withthe real-time feedback and a rule violation that triggered the real-timefeedback. The user input may, for example, be associated with anindication of the rule violation that triggered the real-time feedbackor further analyzed to update the driver and vehicle analysis.

Any of the systems and processes described herein can be performed inreal-time or near real-time. As used herein, the term “real-time” andthe like, in addition to having its ordinary meaning, can mean rapidlyor within a certain expected or predefined time interval, and notnecessarily immediately. For instance, real-time feedback may beprovided within a few seconds, few minutes, or 5 minutes, or 10 minutes,or some other short period of time after receiving information thattriggers the determination of the feedback.

II. Vehicle Management System

FIG. 1 illustrates a computing environment 100 for implementing anexample of a vehicle management system 110, which is further describedbelow. The example vehicle management system 110 shown includes avehicle analysis module 160 that can perform analysis for vehicles anddrivers of the vehicles. The vehicle analysis module 160 can beimplemented by one or more physical computing devices, examples of whichare provided below. The vehicle analysis module 160 can be configured toperform onboard and/or offboard analysis and may be implemented in thesystem 110 (as offboard module 160A) and/or in the in-vehicle devices(as onboard module 160B). The onboard vehicle analysis module 160Boptionally included in the vehicle can include one or more computerscoupled to the vehicle computer. For example, in one embodiment, theonboard vehicle analysis module 160B is a computing device or gatewaydevice coupled to the vehicle computer through the OBDII port or CANbus. The computing device can also be in communication with a radiodevice that transmits data from the computing device to the vehiclemanagement system 110 or to other devices.

The vehicle analysis module 160A or 160B can collect and gather data andinformation about the engine from the vehicle computer and/or data fromother sensors in or on the vehicle. The onboard vehicle analysis module160B can communicate the collected vehicle data and information to thevehicle management system 110. In another embodiment, the onboardvehicle analysis module 160B filters or processes the data prior tosending the data to the vehicle management system 110. The onboardvehicle analysis module 160B can communicate some or all of the filtereddata and information to the offboard vehicle analysis module 160A of thevehicle management system 110.

If the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B is unable to connect to anetwork or communicate with the vehicle management system 110, theonboard vehicle analysis module 160B can save and send the vehicle datawhen the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B is able to communicatewith the server again. In some embodiments, the vehicle analysis module160 can operatively couple with a mobile communication device locatedwithin the vehicle, such as a cell phone or other in-vehicle networkcapable electronic device. Vehicle diagnostic processes can be performedby the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B. The vehicle diagnosticprocesses can also be performed by the offboard vehicle analysis module160A. In some embodiments, an initial analysis is performed by theonboard vehicle analysis module 160B and further analysis is performedby the offboard vehicle analysis module 160A.

The vehicle data collected by the onboard vehicle analysis module 160Bcan include vehicle condition information and engine data, such asvehicle year, make, model, engine/drive train, mileage, engine hours,start cycles, and other information related to vehicle condition. Thevehicle data can also include check engine lights, fault codes, DTCcodes, engine events, service intervals and other data collected fromthe engine computer. As mentioned above, the vehicle data collected bythe onboard vehicle analysis module 160B can also include sensor dataobtained from other sensors in the vehicle, such as tire pressuresensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes, temperature sensors, driveridentification sensors (for example, that communicate with an ID badgeof a driver via RFID or the like), combinations of the same, or thelike.

The onboard vehicle analysis module 160B and the vehicle managementsystem 110 can provide or analyze additional data that can be used fordiagnostic analysis. For example, such data can include data provided bythe manufacturer regarding diagnostic conditions, data obtained by crowdsourcing or otherwise analyzing data provided by a community of fleetvehicles (including, for example, predictive diagnoses based oncommunity analysis of diagnostic trends), or the like.

The offboard vehicle analysis module 160A can output the analysis andprognostic information obtained from the onboard vehicle analysis module160B to one of the management devices 135 operated by a fleetadministrator or the like (which may be a mobile device), or any otherdevice configured to receive notifications and updates from the offboardvehicle analysis module 160A. The output can include, for example,diagnostic codes or other diagnoses of vehicle problems, driverwarnings, a list of proposed corrective actions, alarms, and/or otherinformation provided by the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B to thesystem 110. Similarly, the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B canprovide such outputs directly to the driver via an onboard computer (forexample, on a display thereof) or via wired or wireless communication toone of the driver devices 106A, . . . , 106N (collectively driverdevices 106), such as to a phone, a smartphone, a mobile device, awearable device, and a computing device associated with the driver (forexample, possessed, nearby, or carried by the driver). The outputs tothe driver can include any of the outputs described above, as well asoptionally navigation directions to dispatch the driver to a repairfacility (for example, a nearest repair facility). The output couldinclude a list of options of available service centers to perform theidentified services, from which the driver can select and then benavigated to. Depending on the severity of the predicted failure, theoutputs to the driver may, for more severe problems, provide reroutingto a nearest approved maintenance facility and navigate the driver tothat location. For less severe problems, the outputs to the driver canindicate that maintenance should be performed soon or the like.

The output can also provide information and alerts to vehicle managementsystem 110 or other fleet management personnel. The onboard vehicleanalysis module 160B can analyze diagnostic data against one or morethresholds that are to be met prior to proceeding with changes to thevehicle route and/or recommending repairs. The thresholds can bemachine-based and/or human-based thresholds. Machine-based thresholdscould be determined by algorithms based on factors such as cost, time,energy usage, disruptive effect, and others. Human-based thresholds caninclude one or more approvals from the driver, vehicle maintenancepersonnel, management personnel, or others.

In some embodiments, the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B can filterdata received from the engine computer and send a subset of the enginecomputer data (or other in-vehicle sensor data) to the offboard vehicleanalysis module 160A. In some embodiments, the onboard vehicle analysismodule 160B monitors the data received by the engine computer forchanges. In one embodiment, when a change is detected, the updated datacan be sent to the offboard vehicle analysis module 160A. For example,if the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B receives data from theengine computer continuously or substantially continuously, the onboardvehicle analysis module 160B may solely send data that was differentfrom a previous set of data to the offboard vehicle analysis module 160Ato conserve bandwidth. In another embodiment, the onboard vehicleanalysis module 160B sends data periodically, such as once every hour oronce every few hours, or even once a day or at longer intervals formeasured parameters that change slowly.

Tire pressure data is an example of data that generally changes slowly.Instead of reporting tire pressure data to the vehicle management system110 continuously or at frequent intervals (such as every 1 to 2minutes), the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B can instead sendupdated tire pressure data to the vehicle management system 110 once perhour or couple of hours, once per day, or less frequently. In anotherembodiment, the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B sends updated tirepressure data to the vehicle management system 110 solely when the tirepressure changes more than a threshold amount. In another embodiment,the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B increases a frequency oftransmission of sensor or engine data when the data changes more than athreshold amount. More generally, the onboard vehicle analysis module160B can reduce, compress, or otherwise filter the diagnostic data sentto the vehicle management system 110.

The in-vehicle devices 105A, . . . , 105N (collectively referred to asin-vehicle devices 105) also include a driver alerting module 170. Thedriver alerting module 170 can be implemented by one or more physicalcomputing devices, examples of which are provided herein. The driveralerting module 170 can perform onboard and/or offboard analysis and maybe implemented in the system 110 (as offboard module 170A) and/or in thein-vehicle devices (as onboard module 170B). The driver alerting module170A or 170B can receive the analyzed data from the vehicle analysismodule 160 on a consistent basis in order to identify risky drivingbehaviors, like heavy braking and acceleration, average or maximumspeeds, and so forth for a driver of a vehicle. In turn, the driveralerting module 170 can output alerts via wired or wirelesscommunication for presentation to a driver of a vehicle to notify thedriver of the risky driver behaviors and provide coaching to improve thedriving performance of the driver. For example, the vehicle can includean attached display (for example, the display may be part of anentertainment system of the vehicle) that displays the alerts orcoaching from the driver alerting module 170 providing driverinformation related to driver safety, how they are well driving, heavybraking or acceleration events, speeding occurrences, fuel efficiency,suggestions for improving driving, and idle times, for instance.Additionally or alternatively, one of the driver devices 106 associatedwith the driver of the vehicle can receive via wired or wirelesscommunication (for example, directly from the onboard driver alertingmodule 170B via Bluetooth™ or near field communication or indirectlyfrom the driver alerting module 170 via the network 145) the alerts orcoaching from the driver alerting module 170 and display the alerts orcoaching and, for instance, show a plurality of different outputsrelating to driver safety, work efficiency, carbon Impact, fuelefficiency, idle time, electric and alternate fuel source vehicleperformance, traffic, weather, vehicle skills, and other customnavigation options, for example. The alerts and coaching from the driveralerting module 170 can be provided in the form of real-time audible ortextual messages, color changing displays, and vibrating of items, suchas by vibrating one of the driver devices 106, chairs of the vehicle, orsteering wheel of the vehicle, for example.

FIG. 2 illustrates a gateway module 205. The gateway module 205 is amore detailed embodiment of one of the in-vehicle devices 105 describedherein and includes some or all the features thereof. The gateway module205 can be a vehicle based data acquisition and transmission sub-system.In the depicted embodiment, the gateway module 205 has a processor 210,memory 215, a wireless adapter 220, and one or more sensors 225. In someembodiments, the sensors 225 are omitted. The sensors 225 can beconfigured to measure vehicle data, such as vehicle position,temperature, time, acceleration, audio, and direction.

A radio 240 communicates with the gateway module 205, either wirelesslyor through a wired connection (for example, with a serial cable or thelike). The radio 240 includes a GPS module 245 that detects vehicleposition. The radio 240 can transmit data received from the gatewaymodule 205 to the vehicle management system 110. The radio 240 can alsocommunicate vehicle positioning data received from the GPS module 245 tothe vehicle management system 110. In one embodiment, the radio 240communicates with the vehicle management system by placing a cell phonecall to a server of the vehicle management system 110. The radio 240 canalso communicate with the server at the vehicle management system 110using TCP/IP protocols. By sending data frequently or periodically, theradio 240 can keep the connection to the server open, which canguarantee or help to guarantee data reliability.

Any number of in-vehicle sensors 230 located within the vehicle cancommunicate with the gateway module 205. The in-vehicle sensors 230 canbe located throughout the vehicle, including, for example, the engine,tires, vehicle body, trailer, cargo areas, and other locations on andwithin the vehicle. Some examples of vehicle sensors include engine oilsensors, fuel level sensors, light sensors, door sensors, ignitionsensors, temperature sensors (including in cab and in trailer), and tirepressure sensors. At least some of the in-vehicle sensors 230 cancommunicate with the engine computer or other engine hardware configuredto receive and process the data. The in-vehicle sensors can also belocated remotely and can transmit the data wirelessly to the enginecomputer or other data processing hardware. For example, a tire pressuresensor could wirelessly transmit tire pressure data to the enginecomputer for processing.

Likewise, the gateway module 205 can also include sensors. One exampleof a sensor 225 that may be included in the gateway is an accelerometer.An accelerometer can detect hard braking, cornering, and acceleration.The accelerometer can therefore allow position coordinates to be updatedwithout resort to GPS or triangulation technology. For example, theaccelerometer can provide for short-term position reporting thatoperates without resorting to GPS signals. The gateway module 205 canoffer a low cost longitude, latitude capability and combined hardbraking sensor for vehicle history applications, such as the vehiclehistory systems and methods described in U.S. application Ser. No.13/251,129, titled “History Timeline Display for Vehicle FleetManagement,” filed Sep. 30, 2011, the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety. As a device, in certainembodiments, the gateway module 205 can enable data from multiplesensors to be acquired without adding wires or optical connections tothe vehicle for those sensors.

The gateway module 205 can be in communication with some or all of thein-vehicle sensors 230. For example, the gateway module 205 can becoupled to an OBDII or CAN bus in the vehicle to thereby receivein-vehicle sensor information from the engine computer. In someembodiments, one or more in-vehicle sensors can be directly coupled tothe gateway module 205, or the gateway module 205 can be configured tocommunicate wirelessly with the in-vehicle sensors. For example, thegateway module could receive cargo bay temperature data from atemperature sensor wirelessly transmitting the data. The wirelesssensors can use point-to-point transmission using wireless transmissionstandards such as Bluetooth or Zigbee.

The processor 210 and memory 215 of the gateway module 205 can implementvarious features. Among others, the processor 210 of the gateway module205 can perform the operations associated with the onboard vehicleanalysis module 160 and the driver alerting module 170 described herein.The gateway module 205 can act as an intermediary processing platformfor the vehicle management system 110. The gateway module 205 canprocess the data received from the in-vehicle sensors 230 and send asubset of the total data collected to the vehicle management system 110.The gateway module 205 can collect hundreds or thousands or more datapoints from sensors 225, in-vehicle sensors 230, and the enginecomputer. The gateway module 205 can, among other things, analyze,categorize, compress, or otherwise process the data before transmittingit to the vehicle management system 110. By preprocessing the data priorto sending the information to the vehicle management system 110, thegateway module 205 can determine what data to send to the vehiclemanagement system 110, which can reduce redundant processing andbandwidth used to continually transmit vehicle data.

The gateway module 205 can monitor several vehicle characteristics. Thesensors 225, 230 can provide information to the gateway module 205 at aspecific frequency for each vehicle characteristic; however, the sensors225, 230 may generally be recording data at a faster rate than themonitored vehicle characteristic is changing. As such, sending all ofthe data to the vehicle management system 110 every time a sensorprovides data can waste bandwidth and provide redundant data points forthe vehicle management system 110 to process. Advantageously, in certainembodiments, instead of sending all of this data to the vehiclemanagement system 110, the gateway module 205 processes the data andselectively updates the vehicle management system 110. The gatewaymodule 205 can also compress the data that is received. The gatewaymodule 205 can selectively compress portions of data using compressiontechniques, including any lossy or lossless compression techniques. Forexample, the data relating to vehicle characteristics that are slowlychanging can be compressed.

The gateway module 205 can process vehicle characteristics according tothe rate at which the characteristics change. For example, enginecharacteristics can range from relatively slower changingcharacteristics, such as tire pressure or average fuel consumption, torelatively faster changing characteristics, such as engine RPM andspeed. The gateway module 205 can provide updates to the vehiclemanagement system 110 using different update approaches for each vehiclecharacteristic, including periodic updates, threshold-based updates,event-based updates, user-specified updates, and/or a combination ofmethods.

Periodic updates can provide updates to the vehicle management system110 at a specified frequency. For example, the gateway module 205 mayupdate the remaining vehicle fuel data every 5 minutes. Threshold basedupdates can provide updates when the value of the vehicle characteristicmeets or exceeds a specified threshold. The thresholds can be static,determined dynamically by the system, user specified, or determinedusing any other method. The thresholds can be absolute, such as aspecific value, or relative, such as a percentage based change aspecific number of units. For example, tire pressure data could beupdated when the tire pressure changes by 10%, or when it changes by 2psi, or if pressure drops below 35 psi. Event-based updates can promptupdates after a specific event occurs. For example, an update of all thevehicle characteristics may be provided when the engine starts or whenan engine error is detected.

The gateway module 205 can use a combination of methods or algorithms todetermine the frequency of the updates to the vehicle management system110. For example, the tire pressure data could have a periodic updateand a threshold based update. The tire pressure data could be updatedevery 30 minutes. However if there was a blowout, it can be beneficialto have a more rapid or immediate update to the tire pressure. As such,the gateway module 205 could evaluate the tire pressure against athreshold that updates tire pressure when a change is detected. Thegateway module 205 can provide update routines that are dependent on theoperational phase of the vehicle, such as warm-up operation versusnormal operation. As engine conditions stabilize after warm-up thegateway module 205 can increase the intervals at which updates areprovided to the vehicle management system 110. In some embodiments thegateway module 205 can send the updated data to the vehicle managementsystem 205 and the raw data. The raw vehicle data can include some orall of the data that the gateway module 205 receives from the sensorsand vehicle computer. The raw data can be transmitted with or withoutthe preprocessed updated vehicle data.

More generally, in certain embodiments, the gateway module 205 can be asystem that performs wired and/or wireless data acquisition within avehicle. The gateway module 205 can pool data from various sensors,apply time stamps to the data, reformat the data, compress the data,encode the data, and/or encrypt the data. Software running on thegateway module 205 can manage data acquisition and data formatting. Thegateway module 205 can therefore acquire diagnostic bus and motorvehicle status data and forward the data, alerts, or coaching directlyto the vehicle management system or another device, such as one of thedriver devices 106 via Bluetooth™, WiFi™, Ethernet, RS232/422, USB orother suitable wired or wireless physical interfaces.

III. In-Vehicle Device Driver Feedback

In some embodiments, feedback about the driving performance of a driverduring a day can be provided to the driver at the end of the day. Forexample, the vehicle data can be transmitted from a vehicle or a gatewaydevice, such as one of the in-vehicle devices 105, associated with thevehicle to the vehicle management system 110. The vehicle managementsystem 110 can then process the vehicle data in due course to evaluatethe performance of the driver. Upon the conclusion of this processing,the vehicle management system 110 can transmit information about theperformance of the driver to the vehicle or the gateway deviceassociated with the vehicle for presentation to the driver.

Additionally or alternatively, the in-vehicle devices 105 can be used toleverage the application programming interfaces (APIs) that areavailable in a vehicle to collect and process the vehicle data andprovide real-time feedback on the driving behavior of a driver of thevehicle. The driver alerting module 170 can be used to output an alertor coaching for presentation to the driver in an unobtrusive way. Forinstance, the driver alerting module 170 can output the alert orcoaching to one of the driver devices 106 associated with the driver oran in-vehicle system, such as an in-vehicle display, speaker, seat-belt,or vehicle entertainment system associated with the vehicle that thedriver is driving, to alert (for example, a vibration or change of itemcolor) or coach (for example, verbal or written information) the driverin real-time about violations of laws or company rules while the driveris driving.

In one embodiment, when a driver enters a vehicle, one of the driverdevices 106 associated with the driver can tie or associate to thevehicle or the gateway module 205. For example, a vehicle identificationnumber (VIN) can be tied or associated to a smart phone of the driver sothat the vehicle data gathered by the gateway module 205 can further beassociated with the driver of the vehicle. As a result, when the driverdrives different vehicles, the vehicle data associated with driving eachof the different vehicles can be compiled and associated with the samedriver.

The driver alerting module 170 can alert based on one or moreconditions. For example, the driver alerting module 170 can alert when adriver exceeds a certain acceleration or deceleration limit. As anotherexample, the driver alerting module 170 can alert when a driver exceedsa certain acceleration or deceleration limit (for example, more than ±5miles per hours in one second or ±10 miles per hours in one second) whena vehicle is traveling less than one threshold speed (for example, 20miles per hour) or greater than another threshold speed (for example, 60miles per hour). Moreover, the driver alerting module 170 can performcomputations with the vehicle data parameters to come up with a score orto determine thresholds, such as the threshold used for alerting thedriver.

In view of the communication between the in-vehicle devices 105 and thevehicle management system 110, the vehicle management system 110 canprovide information about roads, vehicle histories on roads, driverhistories, or a driver's organization to the in-vehicle devices 105 sothat the in-vehicle devices 105 can make more informed or appropriatealerts or coaching.

The driver alerting module 170 can look for patterns over time in thedriving behavior of the driver. For example, the driver alerting module170 can observe bad driving behavior over a series of days or weeks,such as repeated hard braking. To encourage better driving behavior,however, the driver alerting module 170 can note positive trends in baddriving behavior and provide coaching messages, such as for example “youare braking hard, but you are doing better than you did last week, sokeep up the good work.” Such tracking patterns can further facilitate agamification of the alerts and coaching by the driver alerting module170, where the drivers can receive achievements based on drivingperformance. As a result, the coaching can be more engaging to drivers,promoting further improved driving performance.

In one embodiment, the driver alerting module 170 can enable drivers toprovide explanations of bad driving behavior or violations. For example,if a dog runs out in front of the vehicle and the driver slams on thebrakes, the driver may receive a hard brake violation. The onboarddriver alerting module 170B, in turn, can receive a user input from thedriver, such as a bookmark of the violation for later discussion, apredefined text explanation of the violation, or a dictation of theexplanation, so that the driver can associate an explanation with theviolation and, for example, potentially not be penalized for theviolation. The driver may input the user input via a user interface oracoustic sensor of one of the in-vehicle devices 105 or one or moreother devices associated with the driver or vehicle and configured tocommunicate with the one of the in-vehicle devices 105.

The driver alerting module 170 can also determine whether the driver islikely driving and inform the driver regarding a needed change in anhours-of-service status. The term “hours-of-service status,” in additionto having its ordinary meaning, can refer to whether a driver may bepermitted continue driving in view of a total number of consecutivedriving hours that the driver has been driving. For example, if theonboard vehicle analysis module 160B determines that the driver stillhas the seatbelt engaged, the vehicle engine is on, and the vehiclestopped, then the driver may be likely stuck in traffic and is probablystill driving. If the driver has not finished a shift, thehours-of-service status of the driver may not need to be changed. On theother hand, if the driver has finished the shift, the driver may bealerted to potential needed change in the hours-of-service status of thedriver.

Because the data processed by the driver alerting module 170 can becollected, at least in part, from the onboard vehicle analysis module160B that are available in a vehicle, the vehicle data used by thedriver alerting module 170 can be more reliable or detailed thaninformation from other sources, such as the data from one of the driverdevices 106. The vehicle data from the onboard vehicle analysis module160B can also be very timely and enable the real-time feedback by thedriver alerting module 170.

In some embodiments, an initial analysis, alerting, or coaching can beoutput by the onboard driver alerting module 170B and further analysis,alerting, or coaching can be performed by the offboard driver alertingmodule 170A. Additionally or alternatively, the onboard driver alertingmodule 170B can perform a subset of types of alerting or coaching, andthe off board driver alerting module 170A can perform another subset oftypes of alerting or coaching that can be at least in part the same ordifferent form the subset of types of alerting or coaching performed bythe onboard driver alerting module 170B. Such local processing by theonboard driver alerting module 170B can relieve the processing burden onthe vehicle management system 110 because vehicle data processing can beperformed by the onboard driver alerting module 170B and shared with thevehicle management system 110 so that the offboard driver alertingmodule 170A need not perform the same or similar processing of thevehicle data. In an example computing environment that includesthousands or tens of thousands of in-vehicle devices 105, a significantamount of processing can be offloaded from the vehicle management system110 to some or all of the in-vehicle devices 105.

IV. Real-Time Driver Feedback and User Input

The driver alerting module 170 can provide valuable a feedback to adriver to improve the drivers driving performance. However, the feedbackmay be inaccurate at times or may be inappropriate. The feedback can,for example, indicate that a vehicle or driver has committed a ruleviolation although the vehicle or driver has not actually committed therule violation. The vehicle data collected by the vehicle analysismodule 160 and used by the driver alerting module 170 to determine therule violation may have been inaccurate, and the driver alerting module170 may, as a result, incorrectly determine that the rule violationoccurred. In another example, the rule data used to determine whether arule violation occurred may be inaccurate and thus the driver alertingmodule 170 may incorrectly determine the occurrence of the ruleviolation when the rule violation itself is erroneous. Moreover, thereason for a rule violation may not be the fault of a vehicle or driver,or the vehicle or driver may have taken appropriate actions givenparticular circumstances and yet received feedback that discouraged theappropriate actions.

To, for instance, enable more accurate, appropriate, meaningful, orvaluable feedbacks, the driver alerting module 170B can receive userinputs from the driver responding to the feedbacks provided by thedriver alerting module 170. The ability of the driver alerting module170 to receive the user inputs from a driver can enable a two-wayexchange of information between the driver alerting module 170 and thedriver about rule violations and feedbacks. The driver alerting module170 can determine the rule violations and provide feedback further inview of past user inputs from one or more drivers and thereby betterdetermine rule violations and provide more useful feedbacks in thefuture. In turn, a driver may better trust the driver alerting module170 to provide valuable information, as well as the opportunity forgreater understanding when there may be errors associated with the ruleviolations or feedbacks.

FIG. 3 depicts a real-time feedback and user input process 300. Theprocess 300 illustrates an example mode of operation of the computingenvironment 100 and may be implemented by the various components shownin the computing environment 100. For convenience, the process 300 isdescribed in the context of the computing environment 100 but mayinstead be implemented by other systems described herein or othercomputing systems not shown. The process 300 provides one exampleapproach by which one of the in-vehicle devices 105 can gather vehicledata for a vehicle, determine real-time feedback for a driver of thevehicle using the vehicle data, and enable a user to respond to thereal-time feedback.

At block 302, the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B can gathervehicle data for a vehicle. For example, the onboard vehicle analysismodule 160B can receive vehicle data from the in-vehicle sensors 230around the vehicle or an engine computer of the vehicle while the driveris operating or driving the vehicle. As described herein, the vehicledata can include data regarding geographic coordinates, speed, seatbeltusage, fuel efficiency, braking, idle times, pitch/yaw, and routesassociated with a vehicle. The onboard vehicle analysis module 160B can,moreover, receive vehicle data or driver data from one or more othersources, such as the vehicle management system 110 or via data inputsfrom the driver of the vehicle or a user of one of the managementdevices 135.

At block 304, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can process thevehicle data gathered by the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B todetermine whether the vehicle or driver committed a rule violation. Theonboard driver alerting module 170B can, for instance, access from thememory 215, multiple rules that prescribe rule violations associatedwith activities of the vehicle. The multiple rules can providealgorithms, conditional statements, or thresholds and the like that theonboard driver alerting module 170B can compare in real-time to thevehicle data or use to process the vehicle data to detect ruleviolations.

One approach of the multiple rules is for the multiple rules providethresholds for determining whether the rule violation has occurred.Example thresholds include thresholds for speed, braking, acceleration,idling, pitch/yaw, or any other parameter that may be used fordetermining real-time feedback. Additionally or alternatively, themultiple rules may include other information for determining violations,such as driver abilities, vehicles types, geographic areas andassociated thresholds for determining rules violations within the driverabilities, vehicle types, and geographic areas. For instance, theonboard driver alerting module 170B can compare a speed parameter fromthe vehicle data to a threshold to determine whether a speedingviolation has occurred. In another example, the onboard driver alertingmodule 170B may determine that the vehicle data indicates the vehicleperformed a hard braking rule violation. Other example determinations ofviolations include comparisons of hard braking, fuel efficiency, orvehicle health parameters to respective thresholds. In some embodiments,predefined thresholds may initially be set by a vehicle owner or a fleetmanager. Additionally or alternatively, the determination of real-timefeedback may be based on combinations of parameters, such as speed,acceleration, traction control, posted speed limits, or some combinationthereof. Historical real-time feedback may further weight or influencethe severity of current real-time feedback. In addition, the type ofvehicle being driven by the driver can influence whether a ruleviolation may be determined; for instance, certain public safetyvehicles, such as ambulances, may violate normal traffic laws at certaintimes.

The multiple rules can relate to many different types of ruleviolations. For instance, the multiple rules can provide rules for fuelefficient driving, minimum wear on vehicle driving, vehicle steeringhandling consistent with safe driving, proper use of signals, amongother possible rules.

At block 306, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can determine afeedback for the driver responsive to the rule violation. The onboarddriver alerting module 170B can, for instance, access from the memory215, multiple driver feedbacks that prescribe feedbacks to the driverabout rule violations including the rule violation. The multiplefeedbacks can include multiple output feedback options as well asalgorithms, conditional statements, or thresholds and the like that theonboard driver alerting module 170B can compare in real-time to the ruleviolation or use to process the rule violation to determine thefeedback. The multiple output feedback options can, for instance,include audible, visual, or tactile feedback, as well as different alertparameters, such messages, durations, or frequencies. The multipleoutput feedback options can additionally be positive to encourage gooddriving behavior or negative to discourage bad driving behavior.

At block 308, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can output thefeedback for presentation to the driver. The feedback can be output, forinstance, using one or more of the approaches described herein. Thefeedback can be intended to attempt to improve a driving performance ofthe driver. In one example, where the onboard driver alerting module170B determines that the hard braking violation occurred, the onboarddriver alerting module 170B can output both audible and visual feedbackto the driver indicating that the driver should try to brake more slowlyin the future. In another example, the onboard driver alerting module170B can output an animation on a screen responsive to the ruleviolation (for example, a green visual animation, such as a plant, whichgrows the better the driver drives or a plant turning brown or dying asthe driver drivers less well) or quotations or facts regarding emissionsor messages from celebrities. In some instances, the feedback may bedelayed for a fixed or variable time until the driver reaches aparticular performance threshold. In yet another example, if the driverexhibits good driving behavior, the onboard driver alerting module 170Bcan present the driver with a message such as, “Congratulations! Youcompleted X days in a row without any violations.” In some embodiments,the feedback can additionally be shared more broadly, such as with amanager of the driver or with multiple drivers in a fleet of vehicles sothat the manager or the multiple drivers may also benefit from thefeedback.

At block 310, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can receive userinput from the driver responding to the feedback. The user input can bereceived, for instance, via a selectable interface element, such as abutton or touchscreen, an acoustic sensor like a microphone positionedaround or near the vehicle, an image sensor of a video camera that useddetect user gestures, or another type of input interface. The user inputcan include (i) an explanation by the driver for the rule violation or(ii) a request from the driver to discuss the rule violation at a latertime, for instance, such that the onboard driver alerting module 170Bprompts the driver for the explanation at the later time.

In one example, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can receive theuser input when the driver provides an audio input to the acousticsensor that matches a capture initiation input, such as by speaking theword “discuss,” and the onboard driver alerting module 170B can thencapture the additional provided audio from the driver that includes theexplanation for the rule violation. In another example, the onboarddriver alerting module 170B outputs the feedback on a display as analert and offers the driver multiple possible textual explanations onthe display for the rule violation form which the driver select one tosubmit to the onboard driver alerting module 170B. In yet anotherexample, the driver may select a “Discuss” user interface element asdescribed in further detail herein. In an example where the driver wouldlike to dispute the feedback about a speeding violation, the driver mayprovide the user input that indicates the posted, real-world speed limitdoes not match the speed limited presumed by the onboard driver alertingmodule 170B. In yet a further example, the onboard driver alertingmodule 170B can receive the user input when the driver performs agesture captured by a video camera that matches a capture initiationinput, a bookmark request input, or a gesture explanation input, and theonboard driver alerting module 170B can, for instance, then determine torequest the explanation for the rule violation at a later time orcapture video or audio from the driver that includes the explanation forthe rule violation.

In some implementations, the driver may be provided a limited window oftime (for example, 30 seconds, 1 minute, or 5 minutes) during which toprovide the user input, after which time the onboard driver alertingmodule 170B may no longer accept the user input. Moreover, in someimplementations, the driver may be requested to provide the user inputin response to an inquiry message received from the vehicle managementsystem 110, such as due to a request initiated by one of the managementdevices 135.

In some embodiments, the driver may provide the user input in stages.For example, the driver may initially bookmark the feedback notificationand then, at a later time, provide a written or spoken response orselect from a list of explanations regarding the feedback. As a result,the driver can respond to the feedback in real-time to acknowledge thefeedback but provide details at the later time. In some instances, thismay advantageously reduce the amount of distraction to the driver whiledriving is in progress so that the driver's attention may remain on theroad. The driver, moreover, may submit biometrics data as part of theexplanation in some implementations. For example, blood or urineanalysis data, or other data indicative of whether the driver wassleeping or having a cardiac event and the like.

At block 312, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can store the userinput in association with an indication of the rule violation in thememory 215. Such storage can enable later access of the user input andthe indication by the driver of the vehicle or facilitate temporarystorage of the user input and the indication before their communicationto another device, such as the vehicle management system 110 or one ofthe management devices 135.

The process 300 can additionally, in certain embodiments, create auseful feedback loop for the driver and the onboard driver alertingmodule 170B, as well as a fleet of drivers and the vehicle managementsystem 110.

In one example, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can use the userinput to adjust (for instance, rewrite or revise an associated algorithmor conditional statement) or process differently (for instance, changean associated weighting or threshold) the multiple rules or the multiplefeedbacks stored in the memory 215. As a result, the onboard driveralerting module 170B may, in effect, be (i) better able to determineerroneous rule violations or feedbacks, (ii) more or less forgiving orunderstanding towards the rule violation or feedback, or (iii) more orless inclined to discard, ignore, or report the rule violation orfeedback to the driver. In some implementations, the onboard driveralerting module 170B can update the thresholds for the multiple rules ormultiple feedbacks based on the user input. In one such implementation,the onboard driver alerting module 170B can use the user input and aprevious threshold to determine a new threshold for a rule violation.Continuing with the speeding example, the user input regarding thefeedback may indicate to the onboard driver alerting module 170B thatthe threshold or speed limit for particular geographic area isinaccurate and the onboard driver alerting module 170B may thusdetermine a new threshold. Again, in the speeding example, the secondtime a driver may drive through the geographic area at the same speed,the driver may not receive the feedback because the onboard driveralerting module 170B had increased the speeding threshold.

In another example, the onboard driver alerting module 170B candetermine rule violations and output feedbacks using collected userinputs from multiple drivers of multiple vehicles in a vehicle fleet.For instance, the onboard driver alerting module 170B may receive dataassociated with user input data from the vehicle management system 110to adjust (for instance, rewrite or revise an associated algorithm orconditional statement) or process differently (for instance, change anassociated weighting or threshold) the multiple rules or the multiplefeedbacks stored in the memory 215. As a result, the onboard driveralerting module 170B may, in effect, be (i) better able to determineerroneous rule violations or feedbacks, (ii) more or less forgiving orunderstanding towards the rule violation or feedback, or (iii) more orless inclined to discard, ignore, or report the rule violation orfeedback to the driver. In one implementation, the onboard driveralerting module 170B may update a threshold for speeding violations in aparticular geographic area based on one or more user inputs—forinstance, because the onboard driver alerting module 170B may have hadan incorrect speed limit stored for a particular geographic area and mayupdate to the correct speed limit for that geographic area based on theone or more user inputs.

In some embodiments, at block 304, the determination of the ruleviolation can further trigger more than a default level of datacollection or even new data collection by the onboard vehicle analysismodule 160B. This may be so that additional data is available forunderstanding the rule violation, determining feedback for the driver,or providing greater details about the rule violation to the driver ormanager of the driver at a later time. In one example, the determinationof the rule violation can initiate the capture of image data with animage sensor like a camera, and the image data can be saved in thememory 215 along with the Association to the indication of the ruleviolation or the user input. The onboard vehicle analysis module 160Bcan additionally provide functionally for the driver to request that theconditions or details or information thereof (for example, environment,traffic signal, speed limit, low bridge, and the like) around the ruleviolation be replayed over a time, such as on a display at a later time,so that the driver may better understand the context of the ruleviolation when the driver may no longer be operating or driving thevehicle.

Although the process 300 is described as being implemented at least inpart by the onboard driver alerting module 170B, the process 300 canfurther be incremented at least in part by the driver alerting module170.

FIG. 4 depicts a real-time user input usage process 400. The process 400illustrates an example mode of operation of the computing environment100 and may be implemented by the various components shown in thecomputing environment 100. For convenience, the process 400 is describedin the context of the computing environment 100 but may instead beimplemented by other systems described herein or other computing systemsnot shown. The process 400 provides one example approach by which one ofthe in-vehicle devices 105 can utilize the user input received from thedriver during the process 300.

At block 402, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can transmit theuser input and the indication of the rule violation to the vehiclemanagement system 110. Moreover, in some embodiments, the onboard driveralerting module 170B can transmit indications of rule violations to thevehicle management system so that the indications are presenteddifferently to a manager of the driver or vehicle when the indicationshave associated user inputs. For instance, when indications haveassociated user inputs, the indications may be displayed to the manageron a lower priority violation screen than the indications not havingassociated user inputs. This can be because the user inputs to note agreater likelihood that the indication of the rule violation may requireless attention or investigation by the manager.

At block 404, the onboard driver learning module 170B can update ruleviolation data stored in the memory 215 in view of the user input. Forexample, the onboard driver learning module 170B can adjust the multiplerules stored in the memory based at least on the user input.

At block 406, the onboard driver learning module 170B can updatefeedback data stored in the memory 215 in view of the user input. Forexample, the onboard driver learning module 170B can adjust the multiplefeedbacks stored in the memory based at least on the user input.

At block 408, the onboard driver learning module 170B can updatemaintained profile data for the driver, or the onboard vehicle analysismodule 160B can update maintained profile data for the vehicle. Theprofile data can be used to track trends over time or predictmaintenance for the vehicle or recommend training or corrective actionsfor the driver. The user input may be used to change how the indicationof the rule violation impacts the profile data, such as by removing theindication of the rule violation from the profile data, diminishing itssignificance, or rejecting the user input as a valid explanation.

Additionally or alternatively, the user input may be used by the driveralerting module 170B to update a driver's score in game data. Asdiscussed herein, a driver may receive a score by the onboard driveralerting module 170B based on their driving behavior. Their score may benegatively impacted or decremented based at least on the drivingbehavior factors discussed herein. Further, the onboard driver alertingmodule 170B may use the user input to waive the reduction in the drivingscore. For example, if the onboard driver alerting module 170B deducts apoint from a driver's score based on a hard braking violation, the userinput may cause the onboard driver alerting module 170B to not deductthe point from the driver's score.

At block 410, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can use the userinput to revise component authorization or control data. For example,the onboard driver alerting module 170B can (i) adjust one or moresettings (for instance, modes of operation, data gathering approaches,sensor sensitivities, or the like) of the vehicle management system 110,the vehicle analysis module 160, driver alerting module 170, orcomponents of the vehicle like the in-vehicle sensors 230, (ii) installupdated operating or calibration software on the vehicle managementsystem 110, the vehicle analysis module 160, or driver alerting module170, (iii) reset a component of the vehicle, (iv) cycle power of acomponent of the vehicle, (v) display a message (for instance,recommendations like the quality descriptor for addressing the qualityissue or to bring a vehicle in for maintenance service) on a screen,(vi) disable a component of the vehicle, (vii) trigger a troubleshootingsoftware to evaluate a component of the vehicle, the vehicle analysismodule 160, or driver alerting module 170, (viii) adjust a routingschedule for the vehicle (for instance, adjusting a route determined bythe routing module 112 to add a maintenance service stop in place of oneor more previously assigned delivery stops and reassign the one or morepreviously assigned delivery stops to another vehicle), (ix) order a newpart for the vehicle, or (x) schedule a maintenance appointment for avehicle or driver.

Although the process 400 is described as performing all of the real-timeuser input usages described at blocks 402, 404, 406, 408, and 410, theprocess 400 can instead be reduced to just one block, two blocks, threeblocks, or four blocks of blocks 402, 404, 406, 408, and 410 of theprocess 400. In addition, although the process 400 is described as beingimplemented at least in part by the onboard driver alerting module 170B,the process 400 can further be incremented at least in part by thedriver alerting module 170.

V. Example User Interfaces for Real-Time Driving Feedback

FIG. 5 depicts a user interface 500 for providing real-time feedback toa driver. The user interface 500 depicts an “excessive speedingviolation” alert that may be presented to the driver. For example, theuser interface 500 may correspond to the feedback output forpresentation to the driver at block 308 of the process 300. As describedherein, the user interface element 510 may allow the driver to providethe user input responding to the feedback. The user interface 500 mayfurther present a warning instead of a violation when the onboard driveralerting module 170B determines that the driver has approached athreshold but has not exceeded it. For example, as illustrated, thedriver may have exceeded a speed threshold by driving at a speed of 78mph, however, the driver may be presented with a speed warning (notillustrated) user interface if the driver is determined to have beendriving at 72 mph. The warning, in some instances, may not invite thedriver to provide the user input as the warning may be considered a ruleviolation that may not warrant collecting user input from the driver inresponse to such a rule violation.

FIG. 6 depicts user interfaces 600, 625, 650, and 675 for providingreal-time feedback to a driver. The user interface 600 depicts ascorecard. The user interface 600 includes a time period selector 602, adriver score or ranking area 604, and a driver feedback area 606. Thetime period selector 602 can allow the driver to select a day such astoday, yesterday, or another period, such as this week, month, or year.As illustrated, the driver score or ranking area 604 can present auser's identifier, their driving score, their driving trend for thecurrent period as compared to the previous period, and a rank for theperiod selected as compared to other drivers, such as other drivers inan associated fleet of vehicles. In some embodiments, a driving trendmay correspond to an “up” or “down” trend compared to a previous periodas indicated by an up or down arrow. The feedback area 606 can depict alist of rule violations or warnings. In some embodiments, the driver mayselect any of the particular rule violation or warning type to view asummary of those rule violation or warnings.

The user interfaces 600, 625, 650, and 675 can allow a driver to providea user input responding to real-time feedback. The user interface 625can depict a rule violation or warning history for the driver. In someembodiments, the user interface 625 may be presented after the driverselects a particular rule violation warning type in area 606. The drivermay further select a particular rule violation in the user interface 625and be presented with the user interface 650. The user interface 650 maypresent a map showing a location of where the rule violation or warningoccurred. The user interface 650 includes a user interface element 652that enables a user to provide the user input to respond to thereal-time feedback. For example, user selection of the user interfaceelement 652 may cause presentation of the user interface 675 thatenables a user to further “discuss” the rule violation. The userinterface 675 includes a message area 677 and a submission element 679.The driver may input a response message (for example, “I was drivingwithin the posted speed limit.”) into the message area 677 and maytransmit the response message to the onboard driver alerting module 170Bvia selection of the submission element 679 for storage in the memory215. The selection of the submission element 679 may further transmitthe response message to the vehicle management system 110 forpresentation to a manager of the driver, in some implementations.

VI. Local and Remote Real-Time Driving Feedback Processing

As discussed herein, in some embodiments, the systems described hereinmay perform local processing to reduce remote processing or reduce theuse of remote computational resources. For example, local processing bythe onboard driver alerting module 170B can relieve the processingburden on the vehicle management system 110 because vehicle dataprocessing can be performed by the onboard driver alerting module 170Band shared with the vehicle management system 110 so that the offboarddriver alerting module 170A need not perform the same or similarprocessing of the vehicle data.

FIG. 7 depicts a local real-time feedback process 700. The process 700illustrates an example mode of operation of the computing environment100 and may be implemented by the various components shown in thecomputing environment 100. For convenience, the process 700 is describedin the context of the computing environment 100 but may instead beimplemented by other systems described herein or other computing systemsnot shown. The process 700 provides one example approach by whichvehicle data can be gathered locally and processed in a vehicle by theonboard driver alerting module 170B so that remote processing by theoffboard driver alerting module 170A of the vehicle management system110 may be reduced.

At block 702, the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B can gathervehicle data locally, which may be similar to block 302 of the process300. At block 704, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can processthe vehicle data gathered by the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B todetermine real-time feedback locally, such as alerts and coaching, for adriver of the vehicle. Block 704 may be similar to blocks 304 and 306 ofthe process 300. At block 706, the onboard driver alerting module 170Bcan output the real-time feedback for presentation to the driver of thevehicle to attempt to improve the driving performance of the driver,which may be similar to block 308 of the process 300.

At block 708, the onboard vehicle analysis module 160B can transmit theprocessed vehicle data from block 704 to another device or system, suchas the vehicle management system 110. For example, the rule violation orwarning data that was computed by the on the other driver scores can beindicative of driving performances board vehicle analysis module 160Bmay be transmitted to the vehicle management system 110. Accordingly,portions of the vehicle data may not transmitted to the vehiclemanagement system 110, which can reduce the network load or processingresources on the vehicle management system 110. At block 710, thevehicle management system 110 can use the processed vehicle data. Oneexample use is that the vehicle management system 110 may generatemetadata or summary data regarding drivers or vehicles. Other exampleuses of the processed data include automatically adjusting one or moresettings of the vehicle management system 110, transmitting commands tothe vehicle, or any number of uses, such as the uses for the user inputsas described herein.

VII. Telematics Application Access Permission Control

The driver alerting module 170 can maintain driver scores for driversindicative of the driver's driving performances. Such driver scores canbe maintained by telematics applications used by the drivers and becomposites of multiple parameters from vehicle data or other datasources (for example, driver profiles or histories) and provide anoverall sense of a driver's success at particular task. The driverscores advantageously, in certain embodiments, can be shared withmultiple drivers across a fleet of vehicles and offer metrics or goalsfor individual drivers on their own driving performances. This candesirably improve driving performances of the multiple drivers in thefleet of vehicles. However, because the driver scores within thetelematics application can represent a side-feature or distraction forthe drivers rather than a primary function for the drivers, access tothe driver scores within the telematics application can be controlled.

FIG. 8 depicts a telematics application access permission controlprocess 800. The process 800 illustrates an example mode of operation ofthe computing environment 100 and may be implemented by the variouscomponents shown in the computing environment 100. For convenience, theprocess 800 is described in the context of the computing environment 100but may instead be implemented by other systems described herein orother computing systems not shown. The process 800 provides one exampleapproach by which one of the in-vehicle devices 105 can gather vehicledata for a vehicle, determine and process driver scores for multipledrivers, and control access to the driver scores for the multipledrivers.

At block 802, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can calculate adriver score for a driver of the vehicle based at least on vehicle datafor a vehicle. For example, as described herein, the onboard vehicleanalysis module 160B can receive vehicle data from the in-vehiclesensors 230 around the vehicle or an engine computer of the vehiclewhile the driver is operating or driving the vehicle, and the onboardvehicle analysis module 160B can provide the vehicle data to the onboarddriver alerting module 170B. The onboard driver alerting module 170B canprocess the vehicle data according to a program instruction of multipleprogram instructions that prescribe conditions of a vehicle to bemonitored, such as part of a status tracking program. The onboard driveralerting module 170B can, for instance, access from the memory 215, themultiple program instructions, which can provide algorithms, conditionalstatements, or thresholds and the like that the onboard driver alertingmodule 170B can compare to the vehicle data or use to process thevehicle data to calculate the driver score. As one example, the driverscore can be indicative of fuel efficiency for the vehicle when drivenby the driver. As another example, the driver score can be indicative ofon-time deliveries by the vehicle when driven by the driver. As yetanother example, the driver score can be indicative of counts of ruleviolations by the vehicle when driven by the driver.

In some implementations, the onboard driver alerting module 170B canfirst determine whether the driver is driving for a work task or anon-work task before performing the operation at block 802. The onboarddriver alerting module 170B can, for instance, make this determinationbased on an instruction received from the vehicle management system 110.In response to determining that the driver is driving for the work task,the onboard driver alerting module 170B can calculate the driver scorefor the work task. On the other hand, in response to determining thatthe driver is driving for the non-work task, the onboard driver alertingmodule 170B may not calculate the driver score for the non-work task.

Moreover, in some implementations, the onboard driver alerting module170B can first transmit an initiation message to the vehicle managementsystem 110 requesting that the driver and the vehicle participate in aprogram associated with the program instruction. For instance, theinitiation message can request that the driver and the vehicleparticipate in a fuel efficiency status tracking program in which a fuelefficiency score for the driver will be compared and monitored relativeto fuel efficiency scores for multiple other drivers. The onboard driveralerting module 170B may receive an acknowledgment message from thevehicle management system 110 indicating that the driver and the vehicleare approved to participate in the program, which can subsequentlytrigger performing the operation at block 802. In addition, the onboarddriver alerting module 170B can receive the program instructioncorresponding to the program from the vehicle management system 110 inresponse to transmitting the initiation message.

At block 804, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can receive otherdriver scores from other drivers in a vehicle fleet that includes thevehicle. The other driving scores can be indicative of drivingperformances of the other drivers in the vehicle fleet and may becalculated in accordance with the same program instruction used tocalculate the driver score at block 802.

At block 806, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can determinewhether the driver is permitted to access the driver scores stored ormanaged by the onboard driver alerting module 170B in accordance withmultiple access instructions. The onboard driver alerting module 170Bcan retrieve the multiple access instructions from the memory 215, andthe multiple access instructions can prescribe when the driver of thevehicle is permitted to access information determined according to themultiple program instructions, such as for the status tracking program.Moreover, the onboard driver alerting module 170B can make thedetermination of whether the driver is permitted to access the driverscores in response to a request from the driver to access one or more ofthe driver scores.

The multiple access instructions can, for example, indicate that thedrivers permitted to access one or more of the driver scores during afirst time period but not during a second time period. As one example,the first time period can be when the vehicle is not moving and thesecond time period can be when the vehicle is moving. As anotherexample, the first time period can include working hours for the driverand the second time period can include non-working hours for the driver.As yet another example, the length of the first time period or thesecond time period can depend on a driving history of the driver, suchas a value indicative of a level of experience of the driver or anaccident record associated with the driver.

At block 808, in response to determining that the driver is permitted toaccess the driver scores, the onboard driver alerting module 170B canoutput one or more of the driver scores for presentation to the driver,such as audibly or on a display to the driver. Many of the driver scoresmay be presented together on a display to facilitate comparison betweendrivers, such as in the case of a leaderboard.

At block 810, in response to determining that the driver is notpermitted to access the driver scores, the onboard driver alertingmodule 170B can deny the driver access to the driver scores (forexample, such as by denying a request to access the scores from thedriver) or output an alert for presentation to the driver indicatingthat the driver is currently not permitted to access the driver scores.In one implementation, dealer can further indicate a reason that thedriver is currently not permitted to access the driver scores, and thereason can correspond to an access limitation prescribed by the multipleaccess instructions.

In addition, in certain implementations, the multiple programinstructions or the multiple access instructions can be adjusted, suchas over time or in response to a command message received from thevehicle management system 110. For instance, the onboard driver alertingmodule 170B can receive a command message that indicates to furtherrestrict or increase permitted access, such as for certain time periods,for the driver.

Although the process 800 is described with respect to vehicle-sideprocessing and access control with one of the in-vehicle devices 105,processing and access control can be performed or maintained by thevehicle management system 110 additionally or alternatively. Forexample, the vehicle management system 110 may calculate driver scoresand deny access to the driver scores or other information related to aprogram in accordance with the multiple access instructions. The vehiclemanagement system 110 can, for instance, refuse requests for the driverscores or instead push updates out to one or more of the in-vehicledevices 105 with at times when the drivers associated with the one ormore of the in-vehicle devices 105 may be permitted access to the driverscores.

In one example program, multiple of the in-vehicle devices 105 can eachcompete on the basis of which driver achieves the highest miles pergallon while performing their assigned routes. The multiple of thein-vehicle devices 105 can each request participation in the program andthen download the program instructions for the program. Hourly duringthe workday, the driver alerting module 170 can, for instance, calculatedriver scores and update leaderboards for the program. The drivers cangenerally update their driver scores as they perform their driving tasksand can access the driver scores during the workday and while theirvehicles are not moving. However, some of the drivers may have greaterlimitations on their access to the scores as they are deemed to have alower level of trust to access the information. Such drivers withgreater limitations may be drivers that are newer to a vehicle fleet orhave one or more accidents on the record. The access to the driverscores but each of the drivers can, moreover, vary over time for each ofthe drivers depending on dynamic, conditional, customizable, oradjustable criteria. At the conclusion of example program, one or moreof the drivers can be awarded achievements or awards reflecting theirsuccessful accomplishments as part of the program.

VIII. Example Vehicle Management System

In the computing environment 100, one or more in-vehicle devices 105A .. . 105N and management devices 135 communicate with the vehiclemanagement system 110 over a network 145. The in-vehicle devices 105 caninclude computing devices installed in fleet vehicles. These devices 105can include navigation functionality, routing functionality, and thelike. The in-vehicle devices 105 can receive route information and otherinformation from the vehicle management system 110. In addition, thein-vehicle devices 105 can report information to the vehicle managementsystem 110, such as driver location, vehicle sensor data, vehicle status(for example, maintenance, tire pressure, or the like), and so forth.

The management devices 135 can be computing devices used by dispatchers,fleet managers, administrators, or other users to manage differentaspects of the vehicle management system 110. For example, a user of oneof the management devices 135 can access the vehicle management system110 to generate routes, dispatch vehicles and drivers, and perform otherindividual vehicle or fleet management functions. With the managementdevices 135, users can access and monitor vehicle information obtainedfrom one or more of the in-vehicle devices 105 by the vehicle managementsystem 110. Such vehicle status information can include data on vehicleroutes used, stops, speed, vehicle feature usage (such as power takeoffdevice usage), driver behavior and performance, vehicle emissions,vehicle maintenance, energy usage, and the like. In some embodiments,the management devices 135 are in fixed locations, such as at a dispatchcenter. The management devices 135 can also be used by administrators inthe field, and may include mobile devices, laptops, tablets,smartphones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), desktops, or the like.

The vehicle management system 110 can be implemented by one or morephysical computing devices, such as servers. These servers can bephysically co-located or can be geographically separate, for example, indifferent data centers. In one embodiment, the vehicle management system110 is implemented as a cloud computing application. For instance, thevehicle management system 110 can be a cloud-implemented platform hostedin one or more virtual servers and/or physical servers accessible tousers over the Internet or other network 145. In the depictedembodiment, the vehicle management system 110 includes a fleetmanagement module 112, a mapping module 115, a telematics module 120, arouting module 130, a dispatch module 140, and an integration module150. These components can, but need not, be integrated together on acommon software or hardware platform.

The fleet management module 112 can include functionality forgenerating, rendering, or otherwise displaying a vehicle management userinterface 114. The vehicle management user interface 114 can include amap or list of vehicles that depicts symbols or other datarepresentative of vehicles. As used herein, the terms “output a userinterface for presentation to a user,” “presenting a user interface to auser,” and the like, in addition to having their ordinary meaning, canalso mean (among other things) transmitting user interface informationover a network, such that a user device can actually display the userinterface.

The fleet management module 112 can communicate with the mapping module115 to obtain mapping data, which the fleet management module 112 caninclude in the vehicle management user interface 114. The mapping datacan be compressed, transmitted, re-rendered, and displayed on themanagement user interface 114. Other data can also be overlaid toenhance the map and management layout. The mapping module 115 can be ageographic information system (GIS) in one embodiment. The fleetmanagement module 112 can also access the telematics module 120 toobtain vehicle status data for inclusion in-vehicle history timelines.The telematics module 120 can provide this vehicle status data based ontelematics data obtained from the in-vehicle devices 105N. Thetelematics data can include such data as location or speed informationobtained using GPS or cellular tower triangulation (or other methods),vehicle sensor data, solid state inertial information, or any other datathat can be obtained from a vehicle, its engine, or the like (includingother sensors such as passenger seat sensors to detect the presence ofpassengers and so forth).

The routing module 130 can implement any of the routing featuresdescribed above. In addition, the routing module 130 can constructpre-dispatch or post-dispatch routes for vehicles based on any of avariety of routing algorithms, such as those disclosed in U.S.Publication No. 2010/0153005, filed Dec. 8, 2009, and entitled “Systemand Method for Efficient Routing on a Network in the Presence ofMultiple-Edge Restrictions and Other Constraints,” the disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In addition,the routing module 130 can automatically select routes that take intoaccount factors that affect energy usage using the techniques describedin U.S. application Ser. No. 12/954,547, filed Nov. 24, 2010, andentitled “Vehicle Route Selection Based on Energy Usage,” the disclosureof which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The integration module 130 can facilitate integration of the vehiclemanagement system 110 with other systems, such as fuel card systems,payroll systems, supply chain system, insurance systems, and the like.The dispatch module 140 can provide functionality for users of themanagement devices 135 to assign drivers and vehicles to routes selectedby the routing module 130.

Furthermore, although not shown, the vehicle management system 110 mayinclude functionality for disabling an engine remotely to recover astolen vehicle (as permitted in Europe and some other areas).

The illustrated network 145 may be a LAN, a WAN, the Internet,combinations of the same, or the like. For ease of illustration, thevehicle management system 110 has been depicted as a centralized system.However, in other implementations, at least some of the functionality ofthe vehicle management system 110 is implemented in other devices. Otherpossible implementations of the vehicle management system 110 caninclude many more or fewer components than those shown in FIG. 1.

IX. Terminology

Many other variations than those described herein will be apparent fromthis disclosure. For example, depending on the embodiment, certain acts,events, or functions of any of the algorithms described herein can beperformed in a different sequence, can be added, merged, or left out alltogether (for example, not all described acts or events are necessaryfor the practice of the algorithm). Moreover, in certain embodiments,acts or events can be performed concurrently, for example, throughmulti-threaded processing, interrupt processing, or multiple processorsor processor cores or on other parallel architectures, rather thansequentially.

Moreover, although some descriptions provided herein are described interms of a vehicle and its driver, this disclosure extends to othercontexts as well. For example, the embodiments described can apply toheavy machinery contexts where the equipment does not move and thus doesnot drive, yet the operator of the machinery may receive automaticcoaching and to which the operator may provide user inputs responding tothe coaching.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and algorithm stepsdescribed in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein can beimplemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinationsof both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware andsoftware, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, and stepshave been described above generally in terms of their functionality.Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or softwaredepends upon the particular application and design constraints imposedon the overall system. The described functionality can be implemented invarying ways for each particular application, but such implementationdecisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from thescope of the disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks and modules described inconnection with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented orperformed by a machine, such as a general purpose processor, a digitalsignal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmablelogic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardwarecomponents, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functionsdescribed herein. A general purpose processor can be a microprocessor,but in the alternative, the processor can be a controller,microcontroller, or state machine, combinations of the same, or thelike. A processor can also be implemented as a combination of computingdevices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, aplurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunctionwith a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The steps of a method, process, or algorithm described in connectionwith the embodiments disclosed herein can be embodied directly inhardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in acombination of the two. A software module can reside in RAM memory,flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, harddisk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of computer-readablestorage medium known in the art. An example storage medium can becoupled to the processor such that the processor can read informationfrom, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative,the storage medium can be integral to the processor. The processor andthe storage medium can reside in an ASIC. The ASIC can reside in a userterminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium canreside as discrete components in a user terminal.

Conditional language used herein, such as, among others, “can,” “might,”“may,” “for example,” and the like, unless specifically statedotherwise, or otherwise understood within the context as used, isgenerally intended to convey that certain embodiments include, whileother embodiments do not include, certain features, elements and/orstates. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended toimply that features, elements and/or states are in any way required forone or more embodiments or that one or more embodiments necessarilyinclude logic for deciding, with or without author input or prompting,whether these features, elements and/or states are included or are to beperformed in any particular embodiment. The terms “comprising,”“including,” “having,” and the like are synonymous and are usedinclusively, in an open-ended fashion, and do not exclude additionalelements, features, acts, operations, and so forth. Also, the term “or”is used in its inclusive sense (and not in its exclusive sense) so thatwhen used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term “or”means one, some, or all of the elements in the list.

Conjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y and Z,”unless specifically stated otherwise, is otherwise understood with thecontext as used in general to convey that an item, term, etc. may beeither X, Y or Z. Thus, such conjunctive language is not generallyintended to imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, atleast one of Y and at least one of Z to each be present.

While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointedout novel features as applied to various embodiments, it will beunderstood that various omissions, substitutions, and changes in theform and details of the devices or algorithms illustrated can be madewithout departing from the spirit of the disclosure. As will berecognized, certain embodiments of the inventions described herein canbe embodied within a form that does not provide all of the features andbenefits set forth herein, as some features can be used or practicedseparately from others. The scope of certain inventions disclosed hereinis indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoingdescription. All changes which come within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

What is claimed:
 1. A system comprising: an electronic device comprisingdigital logic circuitry and configured to be installed in a vehicle, theelectronic device comprising a port configured to couple with a vehiclecomputer installed in the vehicle in operable communication with aplurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle, wherein at least one ofthe plurality of sensors or else the electronic device itself comprisesa video camera; a display device to display a user interface having aplurality of selectable interface elements; and a first memory device incommunication with the electronic device, the first memory devicestoring: a plurality of rules prescribing rule violations associatedwith activities of the vehicle, wherein the electronic device isconfigured to: while a driver is operating the vehicle, determine inreal-time at least one rule violation of the rule violations by thevehicle based at least on a comparison of the plurality of rules tovehicle data received from the vehicle computer or the plurality ofsensors, output the user interface to the display device forpresentation to the driver, the user interface comprising a driver scorearea and an indication of at least one rule violation type, receive, viaa first selectable interface element displayed in the display device, afirst user input from the driver, the first user input comprising aselection of one of the at least one rule violation type, in response tothe first user input, present at least one rule violation correspondingto the selected one of the at least one rule violation type in the userinterface, receive, via a second selectable interface element displayedin the display device, a second user input from the driver, the seconduser input comprising a selected one of the at least one rule violation,in response to the second user input, present a message area in the userinterface, and receive, via a third selectable interface elementdisplayed in the display device, a third user input from the driver, thethird user input comprising a response message from the driverassociated with the selected one of the at least one rule violation,wherein the electronic device is configured to accept the responsemessage from the driver in stages by the video camera capturing apredetermined initiation gesture by the driver, then accepting a writtenor spoken response or a selection from a list of explanations regardingthe at least one rule violation type, then calculating a driver scorefor the driver based on the vehicle data, and then displaying the driverscore in the driver score area, and wherein the driver score isindicative of fuel efficiency, on-time deliveries, or counts of ruleviolations.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic device isfurther configured to, in response to the second user input, present amap or a text indication showing a location of where the selected one ofthe at least one rule violation occurred in the user interface.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is further configuredto, in response to the second user input, present a user interfaceelement that enables the driver to provide the third user input in theuser interface.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein the user interfaceelement comprises the message area and a submission element.
 5. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is configured to:store, in a second memory device, the third user input in associationwith an indication of the at least one rule violation, and transmit thethird user input and the indication of the at least one rule violationto a vehicle management system so that the third user input and theindication of the at least one rule violation are presented to a managerof the vehicle.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic deviceis configured to determine a rank for the driver based on a comparisonof the driver score for the driver and driver scores for other driversin associated fleet of vehicles, and display the rank in the driverscore area.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic device isconfigured to update the driver score based at least on the at least onerule violation and the third user input.
 8. The system of claim 5,wherein the electronic device is configured to remove the indication ofthe at least one rule violation from a driver profile associated withthe driver based at least on the third user input.
 9. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the third user input comprises a request from thedriver to be prompted at a later time to discuss the selected one of theat least one rule violation or an explanation by the driver for selectedone of the at least one rule violation.
 10. A method comprising: undercontrol of an electronic device comprising digital logic circuitry andinstalled in a vehicle, the electronic device comprising a portconfigured to couple with a vehicle computer installed in the vehicle inoperable communication with both a display device for displaying a userinterface having a plurality of selectable interface elements and aplurality of sensors disposed about the vehicle, wherein at least one ofthe plurality of sensors or else the electronic device itself comprisesa video camera: while the a driver is operating the vehicle, determiningin real-time at least one rule violation by the vehicle based at leaston a comparison of vehicle data received from the vehicle computer orthe plurality of sensors to a plurality of rules prescribing ruleviolations associated with activities of the vehicle retrieved from afirst memory device in communication with the electronic device,outputting the user interface to the display device for presentation tothe driver, the user interface comprising a driver score area and anindication of at least one rule violation type, wherein the driver scorearea displays a driver score which is indicative of fuel efficiency,on-time deliveries, or counts of rule violations, receiving, via a firstselectable interface element displayed in the user interface, a firstuser input from the driver, the first user input comprising a selectionof one of the at least one rule violation type, in response to the firstuser input, presenting at least one rule violation corresponding to theselected one of the at least one rule violation type in the userinterface, receiving, via a second selectable interface elementdisplayed in the user interface, a second user input from the driver,the second user input comprising a selected one of the at least one ruleviolation, in response to the second user input, presenting a messagearea, and receiving, via a third selectable interface element displayedin the user interface, a third user input from the driver, the thirduser input comprising a response message from the driver associated withthe selected one of the at least one rule violation, wherein theelectronic device is configured to accept the response message from thedriver in stages by the video camera capturing a predeterminedinitiation gesture by the driver and then accepting a written or spokenresponse or a selection from a list of explanations regarding the atleast one rule violation type.
 11. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: under the control of the electronic device: presenting inresponse to the second user input, a map or a text indication showing alocation of where the selected one of the at least one rule violationoccurred in the user interface.
 12. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: under the control of the electronic device: presenting, inresponse to the second user input, a user interface element that enablesthe driver to provide the third user input in the user interface. 13.The method of claim 12, wherein the user interface element comprises themessage area and a submission element.
 14. The method of claim 10,further comprising: under the control of the electronic device: storing,in a second memory device, the third user input in association with anindication of the at least one rule violation, and transmitting thethird user input and the indication of the at least one rule violationto a vehicle management system so that the third user input and theindication of the at least one rule violation are presented to a managerof the vehicle.
 15. A non-transitory physical computer storagecomprising instructions stored thereon for implementing, in one or moreprocessors, a method comprising: while a driver is operating a vehiclehaving a vehicle computer installed in the vehicle in operablecommunication with both a display device for displaying a user interfacehaving a plurality of selectable interface elements and a plurality ofsensors disposed about the vehicle, wherein at least one of theplurality of sensors or else the vehicle computer itself comprises avideo camera, determining in real-time at least one rule violation bythe vehicle based at least on a comparison of vehicle data received fromthe vehicle computer or the plurality of sensors to a plurality of rulesprescribing rule violations associated with activities of the vehicle,outputting the user interface to the display device for presentation tothe driver, the user interface comprising a driver score area and anindication of at least one rule violation type, wherein the driver scorearea displays a driver score which is indicative of fuel efficiency,on-time deliveries, or counts of rule violations, receiving, via a firstselectable interface element, a first user input from the driver, thefirst user input comprising a selection of one of the at least one ruleviolation type, in response to the first user input, presenting at leastone rule violation corresponding to the selected one of the at least onerule violation type in the user interface, receiving, via a secondselectable interface element, a second user input from the driver, thesecond user input comprising a selected one of the at least one ruleviolation, in response to the second user input, presenting a messagearea, and receiving, via a third selectable interface element displayedin the display device, a third user input from the driver, the thirduser input comprising a response message from the driver associated withthe selected one of the at least one rule violation, wherein the vehiclecomputer is configured to accept the response message from the driver instages by the video camera capturing a predetermined initiation gestureby the driver and then accepting a written or spoken response or aselection from a list of explanations regarding the at least one ruleviolation type.
 16. The non-transitory physical computer storage ofclaim 15, wherein the method, further comprises: presenting, in responseto the second user input, a map or a text indication showing a locationof where the selected one of the at least one rule violation occurred.17. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 15, whereinthe method, further comprises: presenting, in response to the seconduser input, a user interface element that enables the driver to providethe third user input.
 18. The non-transitory physical computer storageof claim 17, wherein the user interface element comprises the messagearea and a submission element.
 19. The non-transitory physical computerstorage of claim 15, wherein the method, further comprises: storing, ina second memory device, the third user input in association with anindication of the at least one rule violation, and transmitting thethird user input and the indication of the at least one rule violationto a vehicle management system so that the third user input and theindication of the at least one rule violation are presented to a managerof the vehicle.